Tag Archives | the social life of things

The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW) exists to encourage practice and
research in life-writing in all forms, from biography to autobiography,
diaries to blogs, letters to memoirs. It is directed by renowned
biographer Professor Hermione Lee, associate-directed by eminent colonial
scholar Professor Elleke Boehmer, administered by literary historian Dr
Rachel Hewitt, and is based at Wolfson College, Oxford. From 20-22
September 2013, OCLW will hold its first major triennial conference, on
the subject of ‘The Lives of Objects’.

The application of life-writing to objects lies at the heart of many
recently published biographies, memoirs and histories, including Neil
MacGregor’s A History of the World in 100 Objects (2010), Edmund De Waal’s
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (2010), Steven Connor’s
Paraphernalia: The Curious Lives of Magical Things (2011), Mark
Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History (2003) and Lorraine Daston’s Biographies
of Scientific Objects (2000).…